Saturday, November 20, 2010

Sent to try me

Whippersnippering this morning with the brushcutter (the grass is a bit long for the line), I've noticed that the blade on the brushcutter is on upside down. I've been cutting the grass with the blunt side... now wonder I've been having trouble.

Now just having a break and a cuppa and cooling off, allowing the whippersnipper to cool down, I notice that my good Blundstone work boots are stuffed, they used to be hard to pull on and off, particularly the right one (previous ankle injury causes the ankle to swell often and getting the boots off was a chore), seems to me that the elastic in the sides of the boots has gone. Wonder of it can be replaced? There's nothing wrong with the boots otherwise.

Bloody things.

Even though there's a pleasant breeze today, the weather is quite humid and though the temperature isn't hot, it's sticky and sweaty.

Update
Utter? What the hell? Looks like I'm highlighting and cutting out some bits. Please let me know when my posts are nonsensical, or go awry! Sheesh!

19 comments:

Merilyn said...

"..... the temperature isn't hot, it's sticky and sweaty"....ah one of those days when ten minutes after a shower you feel as though you haven't had one.

Minicapt said...

http://www.3m.com/intl/ca/english/centres/home_leisure/duct_tape/

Cheers

kae said...

Merilyn
Not as bad as being in Townsville (or Bundaberg) over the summer period.
Now it's been raining. No mowing, no whippersnippering.
I'll have to mix a brew of Roundup (glyphosate) to use tomorrow.

Boy on a bike said...

You know your work boots are finally broken in when the elastic goes...

kae said...

Oh Boy, so that's a good thing?

Anonymous said...

A good bootmaker should be able to replace the elastic.

Recently I had three pairs of shoes and two pairs of boots repaired (replaced elastic, resoled and reheeled) for $150 the lot. It would have cost over $900 to replace them all. They were in their sixth season and are now (nearly) as good as new. I couldn't find anything I liked to replace them so "renewing" them was the best option.

Sandi

kae said...

Hi Sandi, how are you?

You can't buy Australian made Blundstones any more. I have this pair I bought about ten years ago and another pair in the box I bought about five years ago, it was the last pair in the shop in my size made in Australia.

Anonymous said...

Your weather now sounds like summers here. But it's HOT, too. Hate 'em. I have to go out to feed the outdoor cats and get to the laundry in the carport, but other than that I am indoors for a good 2 months.

This week the weather's been like summers up north - near 80F days, mid 40's nights, low humidity. Loverly.

Skeeter said...

I have given up on Chinese-made Nike Walkers. A short walk through dew-laden grass is enough to dissolve the Chinese glue and the soles fall off.
And, can someone explain why whipper-snippering results in sweaty exhaustion and back-ache. It's supposed to be a power tool and make things easy for you.
As a kid on the farm, I was taught by my Grandpa to use one of these to harvest lucerne hay.
I remember the gentle swinging stroke as being effortless, and it would likely be good exercise for the abs.

Skeeter said...

Heh, heh! Apparently the Austrian word for these wonderful tools is schroeckenfux.
Tomorrow, I plan to see how the greetings lady at Bunnings handles my request to direct me to the correct aisle for a schroeckenfux.

Anonymous said...

Skeeter
that's the name of the factory making them, actually the "Brand"

scythe in german is "Sense" (die, it's feminine.)

Anon

kae said...

Hi Skeeter
I was wondering whether a scythe would be easier than a whippersnipper... quieter was also what I was looking for to do some cutting in the AM before the noise curfew.

Prariecat
I set the alarm for 6am this morning, but I've just come vertical - so tired! I didn't sleep solidly last night and I don't know why.

Now, a cup of tea and then outside!

Skeeter said...

Thanks, Anon.
Once again the limitations of my monolingual education have been exposed.
I found schroeckenfux when I Googled scythe.
Both the English scythe and the German Sense seem to be onomatopoeic. I think I prefer the German word as closer to the sound made by the blade slicing through weeds.

And there ya go, Kae: A scythe is feminine — so definitely a suitable weed cutter for you.
Just make sure Floyd is not lurking in the grass. You wouldn't want to turn him into a Corgi.

kae said...

I went to take the blade off to turn it around, but can't get the nut undone. Anyway, discovered the blades are double sided... I just couldn't see that from the top.

See above post for my lastest inept attempt at tree felling...

*sigh*

Anonymous said...

but can't get the nut undone

You'll find the nut is a left handed one!!!
To undo turn it the wrong way!

Orion

kae said...

Thanks Orion
It's not the way I turn it, but the lack of strength in my fingers that's the problem. Particularly the left hand.

I think I might have arthritis, my joints hurts in my left hand, and I have no strength.

I've got myself a little thing to open bottles and so on, but it's no good for nuts.

Anonymous said...

I've got myself a little thing to open bottles
-------------------------
Funny you should say that, I'm fairly strong but jars gave me trouble, until I found an easy way, others may know this method already,
pry the lid away from the jar with a blunt object, like a spoon handle, when you hear a little hiss you know it's ready to twist to open, easy as.
'--------------------
but it's no good for nuts.

heavens woman, I should hope so!

Orion

kae said...

I doubt prying any nuts with a blunt object will get one anywhere!

kae said...

No goanna stuff, I'll have to settle for voltaren after my shower.